Hillary Clinton last night addressed the Democratic delegates gathered in Denver, and urged them to back her former rival Barack Obama. The speech, and Clinton's delivery of it, are receiving extremely positive reviews in today's newspapers. On its front page, the Los Angeles Times reports Clinton accepted "defeat with grace and generosity," and "moved to close the divide among fellow Democrats on Tuesday night by offering a forceful and unequivocal endorsement of her fierce rival." The New York Times reports Clinton "deferred her own dreams on Tuesday night and delivered an emphatic plea at the Democratic National Convention to unite behind her rival, Senator Barack Obama, no matter what ill will lingers." The New York senator "betrayed none of the anger and disappointment that she still feels and that, friends say, has especially haunted her husband." The Washington Times refers to a "rousing speech" that laid "rest to a bitter primary battle that left many of her supporters -- especially women -- seething months later." The AP reports "the speech was as much of an attack "on Sen. John McCain "as it was an embrace of Obama." The Washington Post reports Clinton said, "You haven't worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership. No way. No how. No McCain. Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our president."
The Rocky Mountain News says Clinton "did her best to put the hard feelings to rest." While the Denver Post headlines its story "Clinton: The Team Player," and notes that "Michael Barone, a conservative commentator, was nearly as lavish in his praise: 'If you read through the text, it's unimpeachable -- I guess I shouldn't use that term. It makes a logical case for people supporting Obama for the reasons they supported Hillary Clinton, in a rather artful way.'"
On ABC World News, which aired prior to the speech, ABC's chief Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos contended that Sen. Clinton "genuinely believes that if John McCain wins it will be bad for the country. She knows that. She wants Barack Obama to win, whatever disappointment she feels. Whatever anger she feels about Barack Obama. And that's real, too."
Nature Of Roll Call Vote Still Undetermined Despite the effort to forge unity, a number of issues still remain to be resolved. USA Today notes that while Clinton "urged her supporters to fall in line behind the presumptive Democratic nominee," her backers "and Obama's are still negotiating the fine details of Wednesday night's roll call vote for nominating the Democratic presidential candidate." The AP notes Clinton "did not indicate whether she would have her name placed in nomination or seek a formal roll call of the states when the party's top prize is awarded by delegates on Wednesday night." The Wall Street Journal reports on its front page that Democratic officials "say the vote, traditionally a full accounting of the states, may be streamlined to include only a select group. They may call on...Clinton to step in and halt the vote early to unanimously nominate Sen. Obama -- but Democratic leaders are undecided as to whether that would help or hurt the unity cause."
Bill Clinton Appears To Suggest Obama Can't "Deliver" The Hill reports Bill Clinton, set to speak tonight, "appeared to undermine" Obama "again" yesterday, posing "a hypothetical question in which he seemed to suggest that that the Democratic Party was making a mistake in choosing Obama as its presidential nominee. He said: 'Suppose for example you're a voter. And you've got candidate X and candidate Y. Candidate X agrees with you on everything, but you don't think that person can deliver on anything. Candidate Y disagrees with you on half the issues, but you believe that on the other half, the candidate will be able to deliver. For whom would you vote?'" Fox News characterizes the comments as a "veiled shot" at Obama.
Rift Between Obama, Clinton Backers May Prove Difficult To Close A number of significant news sources also suggest that Obama has not yet won over Clinton's backers. In a front page analysis, the Washington Post notes "the most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that only 42 percent of Clinton voters classify themselves as 'solidly behind' Obama, and 20 percent plan to vote for McCain. But in Denver, Clinton supporters sometimes classified themselves as belonging to one of two categories: the sad and the angry." The New York Times reports a "significant number" of Clinton's top fund-raisers "remain on the sidelines and unwilling to work for" Obama, "a nettlesome problem that appears to be contributing to the campaign's failure to keep pace with ambitious fund-raising goals it set for the general election." Dana Milbank writes more bluntly in the Washington Post, "Whatever Clinton wore" for her speech, "her supporters were seeing red." In a contrasting view, though, the Washington Post suggests in an editorial today that the media's focus on the "rift" between the two groups "may distort reality" and be "overstating the political significance" of the split.
Fox News reported, "If Barack Obama gets the traditional post-convention bounce in the polls it can't come soon enough." Obama "has led John McCain in the head to head surveys most of the summer but things at the moment appear to be changing." The Gallup daily presidential tracking poll shows McCain creeping ahead of Obama 46%-44%. The race had been tied at 45% for the previous two days. The poll surveyed 2,684 registered voters from August 23-25. The Rasmussen Reports automated daily presidential tracking poll of 3,000 likely voters for August 26 shows Barack Obama and John McCain tied at 44%, and at 46%-46% including leaners. The New York Post reports that Obama "got exactly zero bounce" from his selection of Sen. Joe Biden.
The Washington Post reports on its front page that "top elected officials continued to raise questions about Obama's campaign strategy and worried aloud that he must do more to overcome the doubts voters in their states have about his readiness to be president." The Post adds that Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell "said that Obama is still struggling to connect with working-class voters and that the presumptive nominee reminded him of Adlai Stevenson, the brainy Illinoisan who lost the presidential campaigns of 1952 and 1956." Sen. Chuck Schumer "said Obama's campaign must demonstrate its willingness to engage against a Republican Party that he said is well skilled in political combat." Both were prominent supporters of Clinton in the primary.
One political figure believes he has the answer as to why Obama is not pulling away. The Chicago Tribune reports this morning that in "a vigorous, salty-tongued tirade," AFSCME chief Gerald McEntee, "the leader of a powerful Democratic union, acknowledged Tuesday that some of his own members might not vote for Barack Obama because he is black, a reflection of the role the issue is once again playing as Democrats fret that Obama's race is a significant barrier to his presidential aspirations."
However, one top pol isn't concerned about the current polls. The Politico reports House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "told convention-goers Tuesday morning that polls are underestimating the strength of Barack Obama, contending he will defeat John McCain with the support of new or intermittent voters, who are not generally polled." Said Pelosi, "I'm very comfortable with those polls. ... I think he is trouncing him. I want more of a spread, of course -- I want it all.""
In state polling:
McCain Up 7 In Florida A Strategic Vision (R) poll of 1,200 likely Florida voters taken August 22-24 shows John McCain leading Barack Obama 49%-42%.
McCain Up 3 In North Carolina A Public Policy Polling (D) automated survey of 900 likely North Carolina voters from August 20-23 shows McCain leading Obama 45%-42% with Bob Barr (L) pulling 4%.
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Fox News reported that John McCain, addressing the American Legion convention in Arizona yesterday, "attacked" Barack Obama "for exhibiting a confusion about foreign affairs that the Republican claimed will invite military aggression by American adversaries abroad. At issue was a statement Obama made last week after Russia invaded the former Soviet republic of Georgia, in which the Democrat warned Moscow it simply can't charge into other countries and added 'of course, it helps if we are leading by example on that front.'" McCain said, "If he really thinks by liberating Iraq from a dangerous tyrant, America somehow set a bad example that invited Russia to invade a small, peaceful and democratic nation, then he should state it outright, because that is a debate I welcome." The Washington Post says McCain also "ridiculed the Democrat's call for 'a world that stands as one' in his Berlin speech last month. 'The Cold War ended not because the world stood 'as one,' but because the great democracies came together, bound together by sustained and decisive American leadership,' McCain said." In a blog posting, The Politico reported, "The core of McCain's speech - focused on foreign policy and veterans' health - was aimed at dismissing Obama as an internationalist ignorant of the hard facts of history. He was interrupted several times by applause from a crowd of veterans who consider him one of their own."
The Los Angeles Times reports Sen. Barack Obama, "focusing on the economy during a campaign stop at an airplane plant" in Missouri, said that Sen. John McCain "was 'out of touch' with voters on checkbook issues. 'If you didn't know how many homes you have, no wonder you think the economy is sound,' Obama said, referring to McCain's recent confusion about how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own." The Kansas City Star adds that Obama said, "I don't think John McCain says these things because he's a bad person. I just don't think he gets it. I don't think he realizes what ordinary Americans are going through."
A number of prominent news outlets continued to focus today on the liabilities Sen. Joe Biden, who speaks at the convention tonight, brings to the campaign. According to The Politico, "During his first full day of solo campaigning," Biden "showed some of the flashes of the hyperbole, exaggerations and quips that Republicans are hoping to use to paint him as a loose cannon." USA Today reports that Biden "worked to defeat a bipartisan bill designed to curb asbestos lawsuits at a time his son's law firm was filing them in Delaware and a former aide was lobbying against the measure, according to public records and interviews." According to the Washington Post, Sen. Barack Obama "sought more than $3.4 million in congressional earmarks for clients of" R. Hunter Biden, "the lobbyist son of" Joe Biden. The Wall Street Journal reports Biden "has fought to preserve Delaware federal courts' disproportionate share of corporate bankruptcies, benefiting law firms in his home state that rank among his top supporters." Roll Call reported that Biden "is the only Member of the Senate who is also being paid to be an adjunct university professor, and his pay for that job did not decline when he cut his teaching time in half five years ago. According to Biden's 2007 financial disclosure forms, he was paid a $20,500 'teaching stipend' by Widener University in Chester, Pa., which would place him in the high end of the pay scale for adjunct university professors."
With John McCain expected to announce his running mate on Friday, the focus today is on Mitt Romney, who was in Denver yesterday to lead the charge against the Democrats. The Washington Post reports that "blocks away from the Democratic convention site," Republicans yesterday "waged an aggressive 'Not Ready '08' counteroffensive led by" Romney, a "potential running mate" who "was trying out the attack-dog role." The AP reports Romney "charged Tuesday that a Barack Obama presidency would 'make America a weaker nation.' The United States under an Obama administration would see 'less prosperity, and less security,' said Romney, in what could have been an 11th-hour audition to join McCain's ticket."
McCain, VP To Campaign In Swing States This Weekend Meanwhile, The Politico reports this morning that McCain and his running mate will campaign "in three battleground states this weekend, with large-scale rallies planned for Ohio, Pennsylvania and Missouri, according to aides and advisers. ... The new Republican ticket [will] be revealed at a noontime Friday rally in a Dayton, Ohio, basketball arena."
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The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that in San Diego last night, Sen. John McCain "condemned overspending and corruption" by Republicans, saying, "We came to Washington and gained a majority to change Washington and Washington changed us. We let spending get completely out of control." The Union-Tribune notes, "Without mentioning" Randy "Duke" Cunningham "by name, McCain alluded to the former Rancho Santa Fe Republican congressman who was driven from office in 2006 by a massive bribery scandal. 'I don't use the word corruption lightly,' he said. 'We have former members of Congress residing in prison, and it's because of this practice of earmarks. And it's going to stop.'"
The AP reports that Cindy McCain "visited centers where Georgian refugees from the recent war with Russia are sheltering and she blamed Moscow for forcing them into misery." Cindy McCain said in brief remarks Tuesday outside one of the centers in Tbilisi, "The only place these people want to be is home, and they can't go home because of what has happened to them and because of the situation that the Russians have caused."
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ABC World News reported the Census Bureau announced that for the first time since President Bush took office "the number of Americans without health insurance dropped" -- by more than a million, to 45.7 million. The Los Angeles Times attributes the decline "in large part...to expanded government coverage for children." The Wall Street Journal says Medicaid "picked up 1.3 million people," while Medicare "insured an additional one million people. In addition, the government's military health-care programs insured 400,000 more people than the year before." USA Today quotes White House spokesman Tony Fratto saying, "It's clear that the long period of strong economic growth we were in had a positive impact for most Americans."
However, according to the New York Times, "Experts cautioned that the report, which also included data on income and poverty, did not take into account the economic downturn that began late last year, and therefore it probably presents a rosier picture than the current economic reality." The AP adds that the poverty rate "held steady at 12.5 percent, not statistically different from the 12.3 percent registered in 2006. The median - or midpoint - household income rose slightly to $50,233."
In an article on the front page of its business section, the New York Times reports that Sheila C. Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, "warned on Tuesday that the outlook for the ailing banking industry was bad - and getting worse." She said that "the swelling tide of toxic home loans is proving to be even more worrisome than initially feared." This "downbeat outlook was underscored" by the FDIC's latest quarterly assessment of the industry, which "said the number of bad loans at banks ballooned to its highest level in 15 years during the second quarter." The Wall Street Journal notes that Bair said the FDIC might have to borrow money from the Treasury Department "to see it through an expected wave of bank failures." However, she "did not expect the FDIC to take the more dramatic step of tapping a separate $30 billion credit line with Treasury, which has never been used." The AP adds that FDIC data "released Tuesday show 117 banks and thrifts were considered to be in trouble in the second quarter, up from 90 in the prior quarter and the biggest tally since mid-2003." In an article on the front of its business section, the Washington Post reports that the FDIC said that "late loan payments and defaults by commercial and residential developers have soared to the highest levels since the early 1990s, threatening the health of some small banks."
Yesterday, in a move that exacerbated the heated diplomatic row between the US and Russia over the conflict in Georgia, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev unilaterally recognized the independence of two disputed regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. President Bush had previously warned the Kremlin against taking such a step. More ominously, US naval warships are heading to the Georgian port of Poti, ostensibly to deliver aid to refugees. NBC Nightly News reported, "Tensions with Russia are rising again" after "it formally recognized the independence of two pro-Russia break away provinces inside the nation of Georgia." In response, President Bush "called Russia's decision...to recognize the two provinces 'irresponsible' and he urged Russia to reconsider." ABC World News reported that "celebrations erupted in the streets of South Ossetia and Abkhazia today when the Russian president affirmed their bids for independence from Georgia." The Financial Times reports that Secretary of State Rice "said Washington...would block any attempt to secure wider recognition at the UN." Said Rice, "I want to be very clear. Since the United States is a permanent member of the [UN] Security Council, this simply will be dead on arrival."
In "an escalating war of words," the AP says Bush, who was "already rebuffed" by Medvedev, "warned Russia to change course and respect the borders of its Georgian neighbor." In a statement, the President said, "Russia's action only exacerbates tensions and complicates diplomatic negotiations." But "despite mounting international condemnation, Russia showed no sign of backing down." In an op-ed for the Financial Times, Medvedev says "all possible outcomes had to be weighed against a sober understanding of the situation -- the histories of the Abkhaz and Ossetian peoples, their freely expressed desire for independence, the tragic events of the past weeks and international precedents for such a move." The West, he adds, "ignoring the delicacy of the situation, unwittingly (or wittingly) fed the hopes of the South Ossetians and Abkhazians for freedom. They clasped to their bosom a Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, whose first move was to crush the autonomy of another region, Adjaria, and made no secret of his intention to squash the Ossetians and Abkhazians." In a televised address, Medvedev said, "This is not an easy choice but this is the only chance to save people's lives."
The New York Times says "with Russia's image and financial markets suffering in recent days, Mr. Medvedev took the unusual step of giving a series of interviews to foreign media on Tuesday to explain the move." And "as if to drive home the idea that recognition of the enclaves was in some sense payback, Mr. Medvedev used an interview on Tuesday with Russia Today, the Kremlin-financed English-language channel, to turn the West's rationale on Kosovo against it." Said Medvedev, "There was a special situation in Kosovo, there is a special situation in South Ossetia and Abkhazia." The Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor and AFP run similar stories. Also yesterday, the AP reports that Medvedev warned that Russia "may respond to a US missile shield in Europe through military means."
The New York Times reports that "a 25-year-old terrorism suspect was arrested Tuesday" in Great Britain and the BBC reported that the arrest "was in connection with terrorist threats made against Prime Minister Gordon Brown and former Prime Minister Tony Blair on a Web site this year." The AP and AFP also report on the arrest.
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Jay Leno: "As you know, Barack Obama has chosen Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden to be his vice presidential running mate." Biden "has 35 years experience in Washington," so "between the two of them, that's almost 36 years of experience."
David Letterman: "It was so nice today in New York City that John McCain is buying a house here."
Conan O'Brien: "Earlier tonight, Hillary Clinton gave a big speech at the Democratic convention in support of Barack Obama. ... Experts say it was the longest speech ever delivered entirely through clenched teeth."
Jimmy Kimmel: "Tonight, Sen. Hillary Clinton" gave a "highly anticipated" convention speech. People "were curious to find out how she would endorse her former foe," and she "endorsed him pretty strongly," saying "whatever you're feeling about the primaries, now is the time for the Democrats to put aside...differences [and] come together to rally behind Mr. Potato Ears."
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